Quincy Jones...The Legend

I have decided to do my post on someone I feel has made a major impact on the music world as we know it. That someone goes by the name of Quincy Jones. A man who's stats speak for them self. You take a look at them and all you can think is he has to be one of the greats. Quincy Jones was March 13,1933 in Chicago,Ill this is where it all began. He started playing the trumpet in grade school and this became his instrument of choice. At the age of 10 Jones and his family moved to Seattle,Washington. He never put down his love for music at the age of 14, Quincy would meet a life long friend in Ray Charles who was 17 at the time. In High school he was awarded a scholarship to attend Schillinger House which is now known to the world as Berklee School of Music. But Quincy would trade is studies in the moment he got the offer to go on the road with a band leader by the name of Lionell Hampton. After this tour Jones would to where the work was. He took a trip to New York City and there he began to arrange songs for some of the greats, Sarah Vaughn, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ray Charles. His next big tour would come in 1956 when he toured as the trumpet player and musical director of Dizzy Gillepse's Band. This was a world to ur they took Jones all throughout the world. After returning to the states after this tour Jones recording career would begin when he received a record deal from ABC-Paramount Records to record his own band. Quincy would go way beyond just being an artist. He would soon become the first african american to ever hold a executive position at any white-owned record label. But that wasn't enough for Quincy he was ready for more challenges. The next challenge was to break through to film scores. He wanted to make scores for movies. The first movie he scored was "The Pawnbroker" after the success of this score Quincy moved out to Los Angeles to be closer to the film world. He would go own to produce 33 major motion picture film scores. This is when his work really started to pick up he produced and arranged for almost every big act that was coming out at the time. He also still managed to keep his own recording career in tact. I think hands down his best claim to fame is The work that he did with Michael Jackson Thriller is hands down one of the best albums to ever touch planet earth.